German Army - Bundesheer

In early 1995, the German army (Bundesheer), headquartered in Koblenz, had a
personnel strength of appropriately 255,000, including 123,000 conscripts. German army was composed of two principal elements, the field army and the much
smaller territorial army. Territorial army units were slated to be merged
with the field army by the end of 1995. The field army is listed in The
Military Balance, 1994-1995 as consisting of three corps and eight
divisions (four armored divisions, three armored infantry divisions, and
one mountain division).

A radical reshaping of the German army was completed by the end of 1994, in
which the Bundeswehr was adapted to the diminishing threat in Central
Europe, the recasting of NATO's force structure, and Germany's 1990 commitments
to reduce its force level and armaments. These commitments were embodied
in the Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany, or, as
it is more commonly known, the Two-Plus-Four Treaty signed in September
1990 and the CFE Treaty signed that November. According to these commitments,
manpower had to be reduced so that all services could meet the CFE ceiling
of 370,000 by December 1994, with a sublimit of 345,000 for the army and
air force. Naval forces also had to be cut, although they were not included
in the CFE Treaty except for land-based marines (of which Germany has
none) and naval air units.

The treaty obligations were met successfully, and in early 1995 the Bundesheer
amounted to about 255,000 soldiers, of whom about 123,000 were conscripts.
The army consists of three corps, under the overall direction of the Army
Forces Command. The headquarters of I Corps is in Muenster, that of II
Corps in Ulm, and that of IV Corps in Potsdam. Only IV Corps is solely
German. The other two are joint corps: I Corps is German-Dutch; II Corps
is German-United States. Under the corps commands are seven divisions
in place of the previous twelve, and twenty-four combat brigades instead
of the previous forty-eight. Six of the divisions are committed to NATO's
main defense force, but the two divisions of IV Corps in the east remain
under German national command. Under the operational command of II Corps
is the Eurocorps, scheduled to be operational in late 1995 with 50,000
troops. Lastly, there is the Air-Mobile Forces Command, which commands
crisis-reaction forces.

The army's twenty-four combat brigades include sixteen mechanized brigades,
three airborne brigades, one mountain brigade, and the German component
of the Franco-German Brigade. Only six brigades are maintained at full
strength--two airborne brigades, three mechanized brigades, and the mountain
brigade. Some of these ready brigades are committed to the NATO Rapid
Reaction Force. All of the active units are staffed with a high proportion
of regulars. The remaining brigades are staffed at about a 60 percent
level in peacetime, mainly with conscripts. In each brigade, one armored
battalion and one infantry battalion are filled out by drawing cadres
from staffed units when expanded to full strength. Tanks and other armored
vehicles of the cadre units are stored, as are 25 percent of the vehicles
of active battalions.

According to Ministry of Defense plans, the Bundesheer will become even
smaller in the second half of the 1990s. By the year 2000, the army is
to consist of about 233,000 personnel, of which 37,000 will be assigned
to rapid-reaction units. The army will eliminate one division headquarters
and two brigade headquarters. To meet NATO obligations, the 14th Division
headquarters in Neubrandenburg will assume the mission of the 6th Division,
which is to be disbanded. This move will integrate a division in the new
Laender into the NATO military structure for the first time.

Equipment of the German Army

With the absorption of equipment from the NVA in 1990, the Bundesheer
had more than 7,000 main battle tanks, most of them highly regarded German-built
Leopards plus nearly 2,300 Soviet models. It had 3,250 armored infantry
fighting vehicles, of which about two-thirds were German Marder A1/A2
models and the remainder Soviet BMPs. The Bundesheer's inventory listed
11,000 armored personnel carriers, including a large number of Soviet
vehicles inherited from the NVA.

As of 1995, Germany had kept little of the weaponry of the former NVA,
giving away many spare parts, destroying huge caches of weapons and ammunition,
and selling surplus equipment. East German tanks had been shipped to Finland,
and warships had been sold to Paraguay and Indonesia.

In line with its CFE commitments, Germany reduced its inventory
of main battle tanks to 2,855, its armored infantry fighting vehicles
to 2,443 units, and its artillery to 2,090 pieces. This represented the
highest rate of disarmament among the CFE signatories, with the exception
of Russia.

In accordance with several international commitments, no nuclear, biological,
or chemical weapons are in the German arms inventory. Under the Two-Plus-Four
Treaty, Germany reaffirmed its renunciation of the manufacture, possession,
and control of such weapons. A number of German weapons systems are nuclear-capable,
but nuclear warheads and bombs remain under the control of the United
States. Some Tornado aircraft have been fitted to accept nuclear bombs.